Decisions

Government announced on the 1 December 2020, the Christmas Support Payment for wet-led pubs (CSP), to support pubs through the festive period that predominantly serve alcohol rather than food. This grant support is available only for pubs in Tier 2 and 3 areas that have been required to close and only for the period from 2 December 2020 to 29 December 2020. This payment will be made for eligible pubs in addition to other Local Restriction Support Grant funding.
This scheme is available for wet-led pubs within the Borough of Ashford, as the Borough was placed under Tier 3 restrictions following the review on the 2 December 2020.
This grant scheme is fully funded by Central Government and the funds will be administered by Ashford Borough Council in accordance with the guidance issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
All eligible wet-led pubs will need to apply for this grant, and this policy sets out the eligibility criteria and how to apply. For the purposes of this grant, a wet-led pub is defined as a pub that derives less than 50% of its income from sales of food.

Due to the way that the system works it is necessary to adopt this scheme as a local relief and apply central government policies. Therefore the scheme in accordance with Government guidance will be adopted.

Purchase of the leasehold for NCP in Ashford Town Centre. This was considered as an investment in it's own right with a good yield and as marriage value to that already owned in Park Mall for later development.
This was considered by ERIB in early 2020 but then halted just before completion in March 2020 due to Covid19 and the unknown financial impacts to come.
The availability to purchase arose again in November 2020 with short timescales to consider.

The decision was made by all Members of ERIB to purchase the NCP lease, off market, at 2.85M. Due to the tight timescales the CEO used her emergency powers in order to complete the purchase with a report to full Council